


Wayward Sons

by Wix



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Defenders (Comic), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Not A Fix-It, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Obsessive Behavior, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Sokovia Accords, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 03:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12786018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wix/pseuds/Wix
Summary: The story doesn't go how Steve planned for it, and it certainly doesn't end where he expected it to.





	Wayward Sons

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes:  
> So, this was a fic that I had on my computer (I have far too many unposted Marvel fics) and since I haven't posted anything recently due to NANO, I thought I may as well put something up!  
> Here's this one, it's a one shot post Captain America Civil War (as most of my stories usually are) and heads up - Steve is NOT represented well in this story.  
> He's insane. Seriously. If you're a Cap fan - this story is not the story for you.

It wasn’t the ‘triumphant return’ that Steve might have fantasized about during the long nights in Wakanda, and it wasn’t really the way that Steve would have wanted to return to the Compound following the chaotic mess that was the Sokovia Accords. Natasha had told him that it was fine, and that any way they made it back was worth it since they were back, and once upon a time Steve might have agreed…but these days he wasn’t so sure.

It had all changed when Thanos had come. Sooner than anyone had expected – well everyone except Tony who had been prepping for this battle for the last few years – and naturally all laws and issues with the wayward Avengers had been scrapped and thrown to the wind in favor of making sure that the world didn’t come to a horrific and sudden end.

Clint had mentioned one night while they were watching the news in Wakanda that this had been the most likely scenario to happen. That a threat so major would come along that would give them all the bargaining chips necessary and put the ball back into their courts so as to force the governments of the world to wipe their slates clean and back the hell off. And he hadn’t been wrong, the minute that the ships popped up on Tony’s long range sensors, T’Challa had been informed and had relayed the information to them. They hadn’t actually been in the fight at first, holding out until the Accords agreed to each and every one of their requirements before they rushed in as the extra, and much needed backup for the overwhelmed Avengers in the battle.

The battle itself was the easy part. Once Steve and his team had shown up, and a few other new additions like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor with his new team, everyone was able to push Thanos’s forces back into the great beyond.

Although the talking raccoon with the pet stick was still kind of strange as far as Steve was concerned.

It was the moments after the battle that were the worst though. That was when the wounds revealed themselves for all to see. Steve had hoped, apparently foolishly, that Tony would have had plenty of time to reflect and realize the truth in Steve’s words and why Steve had done what Steve felt he had to do.

Steve had figured that it’d all be behind them by now…but it wasn’t. Not even in the slightest.

The first signs that it wasn’t and that there were still deep tears in the foundation of the Avengers had been the media coverage of the return of the ‘Wayward Avengers’. That’s what the media had kept calling them: wayward. Steve didn’t really like that word being attributed to them all that much, but he figured that it was better than some of the others for the last few months so he’d take it.

Steve and the others had been there, in full costume waiting to be reinstated publicly back into the Avengers…but the others never showed. Iron Man, Vision, Spider-Man, War Machine, Stephen Strange, Captain Marvel and the Defenders were all mysteriously unavailable to be present at the ceremony. Steve remembered standing there, up on that stage and inwardly shaking his head at Tony’s antics as the reporter woman who usually seemed to give Tony so much grief held up a hand and asked the question that everyone else was thinking but had been polite enough not to ask.

_“Where are the Avengers?” Christine Everhart asked, glancing around as if trying to find them crouching behind a potted plant or something. “If this is a reinstatement, shouldn’t the actual Avengers be present for this?”_

_“We are all ‘Actual Avengers’ Miss., and I’m sure that something has come up that prevents their attendance. There is still a lot of cleanup to be done and plenty of stragglers left behind by Thanos’s forces that still need to be rounded up.” Steve answered her and she nodded slowly._

_“But still, not **one** of them could come?” She questioned and Steve opted not to reply as the senator started the whole ball rolling and reinstated them into the active Avenger roster. _

Later, a series of pictures would get out into the press, pictures uploaded online from various cellphone sources of the other Avengers who were ‘too busy’ to arrive at their ceremony. The photos were a clear record of what they had all really been doing, namely eating a slice of pizza down at a bowling alley establishment that had taken minimal damage from the fight.

The papers had run with the images of course: **Avengers Unanimously Stand Against Team Cap Reinstatement**. There hadn’t been a single news outlet or blog that hadn’t taken off with the story in some way or form.

Tony had of course been unavailable when Steve had tried to reach out to him and inform him of how unacceptable his behavior was, and he remained unavailable every time after that. Steve was actually starting to wonder if Tony even knew that he was calling at all or if FRIDAY was just having fun coming up with excuses for her creator as to why he couldn’t come to the phone. The excuses had started out simple enough with the usual ‘he’s in a meeting’ but after a while they started getting more and more ridiculous.

  * He’s currently pursuing his lifelong dream of Off Broadway and can’t come to the phone right now.
  * He has amnesia.
  * He’s left the planet and won’t be back until dinner time. At which point he will still be busy.
  * He bought some llama’s and is trying to figure out what he’s actually supposed to do with said llama’s and so he’s going to be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
  * He’s dead. He died right as you called. We’re trying to revive him at present, but please stop calling. It seems to be having an adverse effect on his health.
  * YOLO. (On that one she just hung up and it took a google search to figure out what that had meant and he wasn’t at all happy when he did.)



The cracks showed themselves again when Vision decided to move out of the Compound one day, floating through the halls like a ghost for weeks before just disappearing. He hadn’t been the most talkative of them all, normally just phasing through a wall whenever someone tried to catch him in a conversation – mainly Wanda – but Steve found himself waking up to the young girl’s frantic crying one morning as she all but threw herself into his room.

_“He’s gone!” Wanda wailed and Steve sat up suddenly, blinking himself awake._

_“Who?” He asked instantly and she made a gesture with her hand towards the door._

_“Vision! His room is empty!” She said between hiccupping sobs and Steve quickly pushed himself out of bed to come over and comfort the girl._

_“Show me.” He said after a few minutes and she got up, taking his hand and dragging him to the room where Vision once resided. The room was barren and empty, there was no sign that anyone had lived there at any point in time. Just an empty dresser drawer and a perfectly made bed that appeared like no one had ever slept in it before._

_“Where is Vision?” Steve asked Carol Danvers, the new ‘leader’ of the Avengers, later that day when she came by the Compound to make sure that they were doing the training rounds and regimens that she had put into place._

_“He moved into his new apartment last weekend.” She said, looking over the information on the screen in front of her. “But he’ll be unavailable for three weeks.”_

_“Why?”_

_“He’s off with the Guardians assisting with the new Stark Space Station.” She answered him before getting a frown. “You haven’t run through your sets for the last two days.”_

_“I’ve been a little busy.” He said and she glanced at him with an unimpressed look on her face._

_“We’re all ‘a little busy’ some of us more so, and yet we all find time. If you do not keep up with your training regimens then you will not be field ready and you will not be called out the next time something happens.”_

_“We defeated Thanos.” Steve reminds her. “We’re field ready.”_

_“No. A large group of individuals came together to fight and repel Thanos.” She corrected him. “No one gets to shirk off training responsibilities.”_

_“I thought that this thing with Vision was a little bit more important since he just disappeared.”_

_“No he didn’t.” She replied. “Quill came to pick up him and Mantis a few days ago. He’s fine.”_

_“Shouldn’t we all be living here? Out of the Compound? Isn’t that what it was built for? To house the Avengers?” He asked and she shook her head._

_“No, it was created to be a safe location for the Avenger members who might need a place to lay their head and have nowhere else to do so.”_

_“Tony and Vision had no problem living here before.”_

_“Well that was before. Now though they’ve got their own homes.”_

_“Why would Vision leave? He liked it here.” Steve fired back and Carol sighed._

_“I’m under the impression that he just wanted to purchase his first place for him and Mantis.” She said before turning away. “Now, I want to see those sets done by today Mr. Rogers or there will be a write up in your immediate future.”_

Steve sighs as he hits the punching bag. The Compound has been eerily quiet these days, with only him and Wanda living there. Wanda herself hadn’t come out of her room much since Vision ended whatever romantic path that they had been heading down and informed her that he was currently in an actual relationship with that Mantis girl. Steve shuddered at the thought of what those children would look like, but he doubts it’ll last long before Vision returns to his first love.

“Reed can kiss my ass.” Tony’s voice echoes through the hallways and Steve immediately drops what he’s doing to seek out the troublesome brunet. “No, I’m serious. If he truly thinks that I’m going to let him install some interdimensional prototype up on the Space Station then he’s cracked.” Steve steps out of the area to see Tony at one of the command consoles, typing away at something while he gestures wildly with his other hand. “It’s not going to happen, in any reality.”

“Tony?” Steve says and Tony turns and gives him a half glance before opting to ignore him and return to his phone call.

“The Space Station is _not_ Reed’s extraterrestrial lab. If he wants one, he’ll have to go build it himself.” Tony finishes up whatever he’s working on before turning around and moving to leave the area when Steve moves to stand in his way. Tony comes to a dead stop and lets out a small sigh. “Johnny I’m going to have to let you go. Tell Reed the answer is a hard no.” He nods and makes a few assenting sounds before he reaches up and taps his ear signaling the end of the call. “Move your ass Rogers.” He says without looking up at him. “FRIDAY, call Vision please.”

“We need to talk Tony.” Steve says and Tony moves to leave again as he clearly gets in contact with their other wayward member but Steve stops him again.

“Hey how’s it looking? Just checking in.” Tony says as he reaches for his watch with the other hand and pulls the watch gauntlet out and holds it up the next time Steve tries to cut him off. “This is your final warning.” He tells Steve with a serious tone in his voice. “No, not you – Rogers is being an entitled asshole again…yeah, no I’m fine. I’ve got it handled.”

“I’m not an entitled jerk.” Steve tells him and it’s the first real look that he gets from Tony when the other man gives him an arched eyebrow that clearly says what he isn’t saying in this moment. “We need to talk.”

“I’m going to walk past you, and you’re going to let me or you’re going to get a warning shot fired at you. If that isn’t enough to dissuade you, I promise you that the armor isn’t far away and that a second battle won’t go as well for you as the first one did.”

To be honest, Steve hadn’t actually expected him to do it. He’d thought that it’d been Tony being all talk and no action before the brunet hit him with the gauntlet and walked off, leaving Steve crouched there with his hands around his ears waiting for the ringing to die out. Carol shows up a few hours later, rounding him up in the office with a stern look on her face.

“We apparently need to have a quick conversation about something that happened earlier.” She says, “FRIDAY, if you would please pull up the security footage?”

 ** _‘Of course Captain.’_** FRIDAY responds and the image revealed shows Steve and Tony in the hallway before ending on Tony’s assault on him.

“Now I’m going to open a discourse and ask you if you see anything wrong with your behavior towards Mr. Stark.”

“My behavior? I just wanted to have a quick chat and he attacked me.” Steve says back to her and she sighs before rewinding the video and letting it play again. This time she cuts it off at Tony’s little speech about how Steve’s going to move aside before looking at him.

“Let’s try this again, do you see something amiss with your interaction with Mr. Stark earlier today?”

“No, I don’t.” Steve tells her and she nods.

“Okay, well let me be absolutely clear. I don’t know what it was like where or when technically you came from but I can tell you that right now and right here, we do things a certain way.” He goes to say something and she presses on. “And that way is that if someone gives verbal, visual or physical clues that they are uncomfortable or as in Mr. Stark’s case – would like to leave the premises, you do not attempt to contain them.”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“You keep saying that, but Mr. Stark made it clear that he was attempting to leave and you did not allow it. Even after he gave you a warning, you attempted to physically restrain him which led to him acting out on his threat.”

“He was out of line.” Steve informs her. “I didn’t attack him, he attacked me. You can see it clearly from that video. Why am I the one being spoken to here and not him?” Carol stares at him for a moment before just shaking her head with a mutter that sounds like ‘unbelievable’ before she grabs a tablet.

“So, I have the feeling that you’re not listening and that you’re not understanding. So I’m going to do this a different way.” She tells him. “I’m getting you into a session with the workplace safety committee, and I’ll be giving you several programs that you will complete before the end of the week.”

“What kind of programs?”

“Consent, harassment and workplace ethics.” She tells him. “I’m cutting you a tiny bit of slack because I can see that this is something that has been present in your files, but has never been addressed before this moment.”

“What’s been ‘in my files’? You don’t have any files on me, unless you’re saying that Tony’s got some files and in that case you shouldn’t really pay much attention to what they say.” She gives him that look again like he’s said something that physically hurts her.

“It’s actually your S.S.R files, your reviews from Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter, your second review from the second Agent Carter and your SHIELD files.” She says, flipping through these supposed files. “I’m also requiring a psych evaluation.”

“I don’t need a psych evaluation.”

“It’s non-negotiable.” She fires back and he frowns, crossing his arms.

“If this is your way of trying to bully me, I want you to know-”

“I’m going to stop you right there Rogers before you say something foolish.” Carol cuts him off. “Psych evals are common requests and yes, others have had to do them. This is not a ‘bullying’ tactic, it’s a response to a bullying tactic employed by you towards Mr. Stark.”

“I didn’t bully Tony.” Steve says with a barely held in sneer. This whole thing was ridiculous.

“And that’s what the seminars are for, because if you’re not in possession of the skills necessary to recognize said behaviors then we need to start there before we escalate this to the next level.” She puts down the tablet. “However, during this interim you will be off the field except in emergency cases and you are not to interact or seek out Mr. Stark.”

“Did Tony put you up to this?”

“You’re not listening.” Carol says and it comes out a little more harshly than her previous statements. “You will _not_ reach out or attempt to interact in any capacity with Mr. Stark. That is an order from a superior, do you understand?”

“I understand that we’ve been cleared of any imagined past wrongdoings and yet I feel like my team has been experiencing a hostile pushback despite this fact.”

“How have you been pushed back?”

“The reinstatement event, the breaking up of my team, Tony and Vision moving out and now this.”

“The reinstatement event that you refer to was an open event with no requirement for anyone to be present if they didn’t have the time or inclination to arrive. That’s not a pushback.” Carol tells him. “The team wasn’t broken up either, Barton retired and Romanoff went back to SHIELD.”

“She was kicked off the team.” Steve tells her and she nods.

“Yes she was, but not because of any past ‘wrongdoings’. She was caught informing Director Coulson of classified Avengers information and was let go.”

“SHIELD and the Avengers have always worked together.”

“By that same thought, the Avengers have always worked with Hydra as well. Should we be giving them classified information?” She asks calmly and Steve bristles.

“That’s completely different.”

“It really isn’t.” Carol replies. “Now, to finish off your concerns. Mr. Stark and Mr. Shade-”

“His name is Vision.” Steve interjects and she gives him a look that tells him to be silent.

“Mr. Stark and Mr. _Shade_ are not required to be housed in the Avengers Compound. Just like everyone else they are completely free to seek employment, enjoyment and anything else outside of these walls. The two of them moving out is well within their rights regardless of any reason why they would choose to do so. We do not police their comings and goings or their personal lives. And as for the ‘now this’ portion of your statement. ‘This’ is in regards to Mr. Stark bringing to my attention a serious breach of behavior between the two of you. I am personally stepping in to navigate this whole thing.”

“You’re all breaking the Avengers apart.” Steve says to her a moment later and Carol shakes her head.

“No we’re not. The Avengers have already been torn apart, we’re just putting them back together in new and better ways.”

“Better for who?”

“Everyone.” She answers.

“It doesn’t feel that way from my point of view.” He tells her and she has a moment where she looks like she wants to say: well tough shit, but she doesn’t.

“We’ll start with the psych eval and the seminars and well move forward from there.”

+++

The ‘psych evaluation’ is a joke.

Clint and Nat had both told him exactly what to expect and what subjects to stay away from and how to respond to certain stimuli at every turn. He’s kept his responses to shorter, simpler phrases and sentences and at the end of the day he wishes that he didn’t have to waste his or his therapist’s time.

The seminars are another matter entirely. If the evaluation is a joke than the seminars are complete and total bullshit. He almost wants to laugh at how seriously some people are pretending to take it – one junior Task Force agent was even taking _notes_ and Steve had to refrain from rolling his eyes and falling asleep in his seat.

He sits there though through everything like a good little grunt and nods at all the times he’s supposed to nod and shakes his head when prompted. It’s like being a preforming monkey again and he just wants to bash someone’s head into a wall to make this whole thing stop.

“This is insulting.” Wanda says later when they’re grabbing lunch and Steve nods along with her. “They still have not cleared me to rejoin the Avengers.”

“They’re threatening me as well.” He tells her and she stabs at her salad with more hostility than the salad probably deserved. “They’re all just up on their high horses. They’ll have to climb down sometime.”

“Or get pulled down.” Wanda mutters. “This needs to stop.”

“I agree, but I’m not sure how to go about that right now.” He tells her and she gets a thoughtful look.

“It started with Stark, it can end with him.” She says, her face lighting up like she’s just gotten a brilliant idea.

“I’m not allowed to talk to Tony.” Steve says with a slight amount of bitterness in his voice and she shakes her head.

“I can get you in. He’ll be at SI today right? In his office? I can get you in.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“If you can talk to him, actually sit him down and get him to stop behaving like a toddler, then we can push past this.” She tells him and it takes Steve a second before he’s nodding.

“Okay…yeah, that sounds like a plan.”

Steve figures later that the response to everything was blown way out of proportion. The Avengers showed up on scene moments after Steve and Wanda made it through SI to Tony’s office where the other man was waiting for them already in the armor. Naturally, Tony chooses to speak with his fists instead of being a rational adult and Steve feels completely betrayed when Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel take out Wanda like she’s some psycho criminal before Luke Cage and Iron Fist restrain him.

He’s waiting in his cell when Carol arrives with a few other Avenger members and Councilmember Ross.

“Am I out of time out?” He asks them and he sees them all give each other looks.

“Mr. Rogers…I’m not sure you’re understanding the gravity of your current situation.” Ross says carefully. “You led an attack on a civilian building.”

“It wasn’t an attack. Wanda and I didn’t touch anyone.”

“But you used her powers to influence all of their minds.” Carol says with a frown. “That’s the same as an attack.”

“No one was hurt.”

“A lot of people were hurt actually. A lot of people were terrified and scared in the moments following the attack. They felt violated and assaulted.” She replies to him and Steve wants to roll his eyes. Based on how they react moments later, he’s not sure that he didn’t.

“I just wanted to talk to Tony, Wanda agreed to help me.”

“Despite the fact that you were warned to stay away from Tony Stark, your decision to trump the mental autonomy of Stark Industries employees to force a confrontation with their boss is beyond unacceptable.”

“We didn’t hurt anyone and Tony attacked first.”

“Wanda attacked first the moment she used her magic on the first person.” Jessica Jones growls and Steve wonders why she’s even here.

“Look, it was a mistake. I got it. I won’t do it again.” Steve placates and he gets a few nods.

“Well on that we agree.” Carol says. “Mr. Rogers, you have been formally dropped from the Avengers Initiative.”

“What?” Steve says, the statement coming completely out of left field. “Why?”

“Due to your actions at Stark Industries you will be held here until your trial, at which point a jury or your peers will determine what happens next with you.” Carol presses on and Steve clenches his fists.

“Where is Wanda?” He snaps realizing this for the trap it was now.

“Miss Maximoff is being held in a secure location pending the results of her own trial.” Carol responds. They say a few things more to him before they leave and Steve stands there, fuming in barely contained rage.

That’s when he sees it, the camera pointed at his cell and he sends a dark glare to it.

“I’m getting out of here.” He tells Tony who is undoubtedly watching the feed. “I’m going to get out and we’re going to have words Stark. If you think you’ve won…you’ve got another thing coming.” He promises the billionaire before he goes and sits on his cot, waiting for the sham this whole thing is about to become.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Please feel free to leave a review but I do ask that there be no reviews of a critiquing or negative nature. Thank you!


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